Thursday, December 24, 2015

A few weeks ago, the 2015 Tor.com Reviewers’ Choice list came out. Over the past several years, this has been an important list to track for several reasons. First, it gathers recommendations from 11 Tor.com critics, making it a collated list of its own. Second, it has been fairly well synced up to the Hugos and Nebulas, at least before the campaigning of last year. In 2013, they recommended Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Justice three times; it swept the Hugo and Nebula. Last year, Goblin Emperor was recommended 3 times; it scores Hugo and Nebula noms and that could very well have won the Hugo if not for the Puppies.

Tor Books has been an award-chasing publisher for decades. That fact that the Puppies have risen up to stop them from dominating the awards every year is why they changed the rules with E Pluribus Hugo. Patrick Nielsen Hayden and his little coterie calculated that as long as they can guarantee themselves a single nomination per category, they can muster enough muscle to win at the final round.

What Puppykickers quite willfully fail to understand is that in 2015, the Puppies, even the Rabid Puppies, engaged in less bloc-voting, in percentage terms, in 2015 than the SJWs did. In the past, the Tor-led SJWs didn't need to publish public lists because it was all a whisper campaign among a few dozen people; you could see references to it in every "I haven't read X yet, but I'm voting for it because I hear...." statement. You could also see the Nebula logrolling take place in the SFWA NAR every year, until it was hidden from the public; to Cat Rambo's credit, she has apparently made public what, if I recall correctly, John Scalzi was responsible for hiding.

Novel: 4 out of 6, 67.7%
Novella: 6 out of 6, 100%
Novelette: 5 out of 6, 83.3%
Short Story: 6 out of 7, 85.7%

Total: 21/25, 84%

The Tor.com Reviewers' Choice has reinforced, and to a certain extent supplanted, the Tor whispering campaign; based on the way in which reviewers tend to chase the crowd, we can anticipate that the novels the SJWs will be pushing for the award season include:

It's all women, as one would expect, but surprisingly light on Tor-published books. One would assume the fifth book would be The Dark Forest, the sequel to The Three Body Problem, but there is very, very little SJW buzz about it. Perhaps the SJWs finally figured out that Cixin Liu is a man. Or perhaps it is perceived to have been tainted by the Puppies playing kingmaker last year. Who knows? These are not rational people.

We now also know why John Scalzi very publicly counted himself out in 2015; unlike last year, he is aware that neither Tor nor the SJWs are pushing his latest mediocrity for any awards. No doubt he's waiting for EPH, when Tor can again guarantee him a spot to make up for his declining popular support.

Now let's go and see what the top novels are in the 2015 SFWA Suggested Reading List. And note that I did not see these until AFTER reaching my conclusions based on the Tor.com reviewers' choices.

Interesting, is it not? All four novels identified are there. After looking into the three previously unmentioned novels, I think it's likely that Seth Dickenson's debut novel will turn out to be the book that Tor is pushing in 2015. They badly need a new star now that Scalzi is running out of steam and they lost the HALO books; based on this review, Dickenson certainly appears to understand the Tor Game: "While I enjoyed The Traitor Baru Cormorant, and will read the second
book in the series when it arrives, I felt at times I was being giving a
sociology lecture by someone steeped in women's and LBGT studies and
political economy."

Seth Dickinson, we are told, "is the author of THE TRAITOR BARU CORMORANT and more than
a dozen short stories. During his time in the social sciences, he
worked on cocoa farming in Ghana, political rumor control, and
simulations built to study racial bias in police shootings. He wrote
much of the lore and flavor for Bungie Studios' smash hit DESTINY. If he
were an animal, he would be a cockatoo."

Yeah, about that... "Destiny’s initial release was met with a chorus of ‘meh’. It
wasn’t a bad game, but it was hampered by a damp squib of a main
storyline."

In any event, Mr. Dickenson sounds like an ideal standard bearer for Tor Books for the next few years. Regardless, I won't be reading The Traitor Baru Cormorant, because BOYCOTT TOR BOOKS.

The question occurs, given that both the failing TOR and SJW games communication distribution streams flowed through review-whores, what will they eventually attempt to replace it with? The review-whores are their megaphones, their cloak of respectability. GG has torn the mask off the game reviewer scum and the puppies has revealed TOR's machinations, so will they rely on "There's a sucker born every minute" and right that pony into the ground or come up with something else dishonest?

Seth Dickinson, we are told, "is the author of THE TRAITOR BARU CORMORANT and more than a dozen short stories. During his time in the social sciences, he worked on cocoa farming in Ghana, political rumor control, and simulations built to study racial bias in police shootings. He wrote much of the lore and flavor for Bungie Studios' smash hit DESTINY. If he were an animal, he would be a cockatoo."

VD, Whimsical,on psychotropic drugs Man oh man being on Twitter with any kind of depression is dangerously like Russian roulette. You click the wrong link and oof, it's on you) and I'd bet willing to break a few eggs.

Dickenson seems too good to be true. It seems more like one of the Ilk doing a parody of a pink-SF writer than a real person. Or maybe he's consciously taking the SJW act to 11 in order to get published and publicized.

He just seems too shameless about it. But then, when did SJW's ever care about authenticity?

I looked at the listing on Amazon, and the "about the book" blurb raves were provided by a startlingly familiar list of names: Kameron Hurley, John Chu, Aliette de Bodard, Rachel Swirsky, Chuck Wendig, Ellen Kushner... If I wasn't already convinced of the inbred nature of the award-assignment machine, that would have done it.

The sad thing is that the basic plot -- member of a conquered people becomes an agent of the conquerors to try to bring them down from within, facing the moral costs of doing so -- sounds like a good story, if the SJ proselytizing wasn't there. But I have enough good stories to read that don't bash me over the head with messages first (or require me to support libel-harboring publishers).

Greenwich Mean Time. There's really no other standard. UTCers are all suspect.

A full moon on GMT Christ Mass day would be something. Apparently GMT 11.11 is the perfect full moon. If that doesn't mean something in witch craft masonic circles I'll be amazed.

Vox, if Cultural genocide has to go ahead it has to include watches and calendars. Remember Napoleon tried the metric week. Failed. UTC was a back door to genocide. Mind wipes.

Why is this important. It is how you tell time. When the Royal Society built an Observatory it was to get everyone on the planet to agree with an absolute astronomical truth. Such thinking has to be done away with. Hence revise revise revise. The pinnacle of man's endeavours to reach for the sky was "an embarrassment".

It'll certainly be fun trolling TOR fans with how they're supporting YET ANOTHER WHITE MALE as their frontrunner after Scalzi. How very progressive of them.

Got into a discussion with a TrueFan on FB discussing a meme on Shelley as evidence that women should always have a place in SFF. He kept twisting it to women represented in the stories. So Sarah Hoyt doesn't count as diversity unless she writes about diversity in her stories.

As I recall, our host being on the 2004 Nebula jury is what prompted the entirely unprovoked attack on him by Patrick Nielsen Hayden (and read Scazli's comments, which start out defending Vox!), the start of an unremitting campaign which as noted this year created the Vox Day!!! that now lives rent free in CHORF brains. Who knew that SJW virtue signaling (a polite way to refer to raw hate) could have such dire results?

The Grace of Kings was a really interesting book. A grand story, not without flaws (it came too close to YA fiction at times for my taste) but it was the first English fantasy book I've read that was set in a fictional universe yet let Western readers experience it from what was basically a Chinese perspective.

None of those books even look remotely interesting. Vox, what do you think about Tor.com's announcement that they are now indefinitely closed to short story submissions. They are becoming even more inbred and closeminded in my opinion.

There are times I think the entire SJW push to bigger and more intrusive government is driven by survival instinct. They know that, were government small and distant, they'd get punched in the face repeatedly for their smugness and dishonesty.

The Grace of Kings was a really interesting book. A grand story, not without flaws (it came too close to YA fiction at times for my taste) but it was the first English fantasy book I've read that was set in a fictional universe yet let Western readers experience it from what was basically a Chinese perspective.

Let it never be said that CHORF awards don't have signaling value. When I read on that book's Amazon page that "Ken Liu has won the Nebula, Hugo, and World Fantasy Awards and been a finalist for the Sturgeon and the Locus Awards." the interest you sparked with your praise dies a swift death, which will likely remain the case unless I see some credible detailed reviews.

In truth, most of the other 1 star reviews complain that it's a very thinly disguised rehash of the orthodox account of the Chu-Han wars, which is not such a problem for those of us not intimately familiar with them. Of course, since they happened around 200 BC, there won't be a surfeit of girrrl power characters, for shame.

There Will Be War Vol. X would be eligible in Best Related Work because it contains non-fiction. Jerry Pournelle is eligible for Best Editor (short form). And the fiction stories it contains are eligible in the appropriate categories.

I shall be making my recommendations, which are, as it is well known, in no way a direct order by the Supreme Dark Lord of the Evil Legion of Evil to his Vile Faceless Minions, the Dread Ilk, the Rabid Puppies, or anyone else, in due course.

Why would Tor NOT push Scalzi's scribblings no matter how undeserving? They dumped a big wad of potential Writers of Color advances cash on him. Aren't they smart enough to protect their investment? Or do they realize they'd be throwing good money after bad?

@37: When I read on that book's Amazon page that "Ken Liu has won the Nebula, Hugo, and World Fantasy Awards and been a finalist for the Sturgeon and the Locus Awards." the interest you sparked with your praise dies a swift death, which will likely remain the case unless I see some credible detailed reviews.

Ken Liu translated ‘The Three-Body Problem’, and his short story ‘Effect and Cause’ (published in ‘The Best of Galaxy's Edge 2013-2014’, which so far consists mostly of crud) is rather good.

@40: And the fiction stories it contains are eligible in the appropriate categories.

Only the fiction stories that list 2015 as their copyright date.

And I hope CH's series of blog posts on pedophiles in SF will be collected into a book-like object before the end of the year; otherwise, it'll be hard to reference the whole series as a ‘related work’ now that what seems to be part 4 is out with a different title.

And the recommended reading list over at Ars Technica had only two Authors I was remotely interested in in the whole long list - Stephenson, and the "Three body problem" series.

It's disheartening - I remember when they actually used to have interesting articles and something of a pro-freedom attitude. Now? SJW reading lists, "duping" the proles for their own health is good, and how to talk to "science deniers"

Brought to you at great sacrifice, a Scalzi sampler, less his cat pix, etc. (does he secretly want to retire as a cat translady?):

Our Little Errand Boy:John Scalzi ‏@scalzi 3h3 hours agoToday Krissy is making dinner for a dozen people. I am the errand boy. This is an appropriate division of responsibilities.

Duster-off-of-Hugos-Past:John Scalzi ‏@scalzi Dec 22Just dusted my Hugos while I was on the phone with my agent talking about a book deal. You may punch me in the face now.

The Fabulous and Fascinating:John Scalzi ‏@scalzi Dec 21I Just Ate a Burrito of Ground Sirloin, Bacon and Cheese and I'm Basically Made Entirely of Animal Fats Right Now: The John Scalzi Story

Scalzi, Amazon Book Burner and Internet Comment Censor:Charlie Stross @cstross@scalzi burns in daylight. Fact! And I have NEVER successfully fed him garlic. FACT!

(Stross poses on twitter with his significant-other cat and is also loaded up with cat pix. wtf??)

I throw this in so you, Dear Reader, may appreciate the sacrifices I have endured on your behalf:John Scalzi ‏@scalzi Dec 21Fun fact: Not only are the Scamperbeasts adorable, they also generate 17 times their weight in poop each day

John Scalzi ‏@scalzi Dec 20Fun fact: I am currently muting 1,584 people, nearly all of whom are feckless shitholes of some description or another. Good riddance!Ryan Lackey@octal@scalzi Why mute when you can block?John Scalzi ‏@scalzi Dec 20Because people usually don't know they're muted and I enjoy the mental image of these jerks yelling at a wall.

Destiny is okay as a game, but I just can't get over the crappy jump animation. The story, however, is retarded even by game narrative standards.

First, it gathers recommendations from 11 Tor.com critics...

11 Tor.com criticis? Vox, Mr and Mrs. Wright, Larry, Brad, Sarah, Kate... who are the other 4? English is a funny language sometimes.

But syntax parsing errors aside, isn't it a bit... odd that a publishing house would engage in "critical reviews" this way? Even if Tor wasn't staffed by a bunch of nest-feathering parasites with priggish tastes, you'd want to be a bit skeptical.

Scalzi needs to pull up his knickers and play the Bruce Jenner card. Time for John to become Johanna! It is the only solution for him to be recognized as a leader in Fantasy again! And then, maybe, he will be able to start bench-pressing again with vigor!

They reccomended 'Seveneves'? That was not one of Stephenson's better offerings. Part one was a total info dump on where he thinks space exploration is going. Part two was too short and had the usual quick and unsatisfying ending.

Yeah, I have, but I'm perplexed as to what an award presented by a critics association has to do with one particular publisher aggregating critics covering their industry. It would be like The 20th Century Fox Movie Awards.

Of course, it's not like Disney has encouraged ESPN shows to push the new Star Wars movie their studios made or anything...

@Jack "has to do with one particular publisher aggregating critics covering their industry"

It's called the 2015 Tor.com Reviewers' Choice List. Would you call it the Tor.com Reviewers' Choice if it wasn't Tor.com contributors? I don't believe Vox or Larry or the others you listed contribute to Tor.com.

It's called the 2015 Tor.com Reviewers' Choice List. Would you call it the Tor.com Reviewers' Choice if it wasn't Tor.com contributors? I don't believe Vox or Larry or the others you listed contribute to Tor.com.

Bah Humbug, I'm just not getting through to you Dave. But tonight's not the time for either of us to worry about that.

$10.99 for an eBook? Not happening any time soon. I really like epic fantasy, and tossing several cultures/historical events into a blender is kinda fun, but I'll wait until this goes on sale. I've gotten pretty spoiled with new eBook releases @ $5.99 or less ...